Besttrace not working on Alpine Linux? Try these fixes now!

Alright, so I was trying to get this thing called besttrace working on my Alpine Linux setup today, and it just wouldn’t play nice. It kept giving me grief, and I couldn’t figure out why for the life of me.

First off, I downloaded the besttrace thingy. I guess it’s some kind of tool to trace the route that packets take when you’re dealing with network stuff. I got the Linux version, because, you know, I’m using Alpine Linux, not Windows.

So, I made sure I gave it the right permissions, using chmod +x besttrace, like I always do when I download these kinds of tools. That basically lets you run the thing as a program.

But then, when I tried to run it, it just didn’t work. No error messages, no nothing. It was like it just refused to start. Super frustrating, right?

I went online, started searching for people who might have had the same problem. Turns out, it’s something about how Alpine Linux is set up. It’s different from other Linux versions. Apparently, it is known for being secure and stuff, which is cool, but it also means some things don’t work right out of the box.

I found a bunch of people talking about needing to install traceroute on Alpine Linux, and I figured maybe that was part of the problem. Then I gave it permission.

Here’s what I did:

• First thing, I updated the package list on my system.
• Then, I specifically installed the traceroute package.

After I did all that, I tried running besttrace again, and guess what? It finally worked! It was a huge relief. It’s always a pain when you spend hours troubleshooting something and it turns out to be a simple fix.

So yeah, that’s my little adventure with besttrace and Alpine Linux. I just wanted to share it in case anyone else runs into the same issue. Basically, if you’re using Alpine Linux and besttrace isn’t working, try installing traceroute first. It might just save you a whole lot of headache. Don’t ask me how I know about this kind of problem, it’s a long story involving a messed-up network and a lot of coffee.

Final Note

I’ve been using this combo for a while now, it’s pretty sweet once you get it up and running.